Any Catholics here?

[peonyu]

Do you support the papacy no matter what?

Do you feel the church is being unfairly bashed for the sin of protecting pedophile priests instead of protecting the innocent victims?

Im not religious, but my parents are both from Catholic backgrounds [Dad is Irish mom is Italian]. They both stopped following the Catholic faith and are now Protestants, largely due to the Catholic sex scandals and other reasons [hypocrisy in the Catholic church in they're view etc]. There are plenty of ex-Catholics who are protestant [you would be surprised at the numbers of Protestants with Irish/Polish/Italian Catholic backgrounds], and alot of it has to do with the Catholic church protecting pedos...So yes it has had an effect.

I know that is not a direct answer to your question but it is a indirect answer...Losing followers due to a sex scandal that could have been avoided definately is a consequence the Catholic church is feeling. So the Catholic church is not being unfairly bashed at all.